Fake homicide/hostage callout in SJC

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. - Deputies with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office responded to an apparent homicide with hostages Wednesday night -- only to discover the call was a prank.

A text came into the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office stating, "my mom was shot in the head and several people were in the house taking hostages," according to a report from the SJCSO. The text also claimed a person was asking or help and was hiding upstairs.

Deputies arrived on scene around 10 p.m., to a home in the Saw Mill Lakes neighborhood, the report states. They found the house quiet and three cars in the driveway.

A perimeter was established, and dispatch called inside the home and asked the occupants to come outside, according to the report.

Contact was made with a female and her two teenage sons, ages 13 and 17, the reports detailed.

Upon further investigation, deputies determined one of the teens was Skyping with someone who allegedly threatened to "SWAT" him. "Swatting" is described as an attempt to trick emergency workers into responding based on a false report.